The importance and usefulness of esters and amides as industrial products as well as intermediate for the preparation of compounds having diverse utilities is well known. Esters have been prepared by direct esterification of an alcohol and an acid by reaction of a metallic salt with an acyl halide and by an acid anhydride with an alcohol or the reaction of an acid and alcohol by refluxing in the presence of a suitable dehydrating agent such as concentrated sulfuric acid. These reactions have typically been carried out in the presence of an organic solvent and have generally been regarded as slow reactions usually requiring catalysts. In addition, these reactions are not generally regarded as being capable of producing the desired reaction product in near quantitative yields.
The preparation of mixed carboxylic-carbonic anhydrides and the subsequent conversion of these compounds into amides with ammonia is described by Nelson et al. J. Org. Chem. 28:1905 (1963). This article shows the preparation of amides and esters from a mixed anhydride using an organic solvent as a reaction medium.
It has been discovered that water may be used as the sole reaction solvent for the preparation of esters and amides of fatty acids when the esters and amides are prepared by using a mixed anhydride reaction.
The use of water in this reaction is advantageous because it results in higher yields of the reaction products and facilitates the separation of the product from the reaction mixture.
Therefore it is a primary object of this invention to provide a novel process for the preparation of esters and amides.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a process for the preparation of esters and amides that is carried out in an aqueous system.
These and other objects will become apparent from a review of the following detailed description of the invention.